3 Ways to Back Up Important Files on Your Computer

It is very important that you back up any important files that you have on your computer. If your hard drive fails or if your computer is infected with a virus, it is possible that you will lose those files if they are not backed up. The different ways to back up important files on your computer are listed below. To purchase any of those products and much more, check out stores like PC Connection and SuperBiiz.

1. USB Flash Drives

USB flash drives are the most economical way to back up important files on your computer. You can purchase a 4 gigabyte USB flash drive for under $20. Depending on the size of your files, a 4 gigabyte USB flash drive could hold hundreds to thousands of files. With a USB flash drive, you simply insert the drive into your USB port and open it when a screen appears on your computer. You will then need to open the folder that contains the files that you want to back up. To put the files onto your USB flash drive, simply drag them from the folder on your computer and drop them into your USB flash drive folder.

2. CD or DVD

Unless you have a really old computer, you should have a CD/DVD writer drive installed in your computer. If you don't have one, you can purchase an external one for a few bucks. You will also need to purchase CDs or DVDs, which are very affordable if you purchase them in large spools. You should have a CD/DVD burning program installed on your computer if you have a CD/DVD writer. Simply open the program up and follow the directions on your screen for burning data to your CD or DVD. You can fit more files on DVDs than you can on CDs, but DVDs are also more expensive. A standard DVD has approximately 4.7 gigabytes of space on it.

3. External Hard Drive

An external hard drive is no different than the hard drive that is installed in your computer. Instead of being inside of your computer, an external hard drive connects to your computer via USB. If you need to back up large volumes of important files on your computer, an external hard drive is the way to go. You can purchase external hard drives that are as small as 20 gigabytes or as large as 1 terabyte. Most external hard drives even come with software that can automatically back your files up for you. If yours doesn't have that option, simply go to 'Computer' from your start list and select the external hard drive. You can then drag files directly onto the external hard drive by using the folder.